Summary: You are a soldier, but do you know your ememy and your weapons?

Indeed, as Paul prophesied, we are living in perilous times. When in such times you need to know your enemy and your resources and the weapons required to defeat him. I am afraid that far too many of the brethren have been fighting the wrong enemy and have chosen to pick up the wrong arms thus losing many battles. With those losses comes discouragement and loss of focus making the future seem dark and fuzzy.

I see way too many references to taking up arms or saber rattling on FaceBook and other places by professing Christians. We do not defend our faith by guns. Nowhere will you find such an injunction in Scripture. Jesus went as a sheep to the slaughter. Indeed, He said that He could have called 12,000 angels to His side, but chose not to do so, but laid down His life for us. All the apostles were imprisoned and all but one were executed by the Roman government. None of them suggested forming an army to overthrow Rome or to avenge the deaths of saints.

Read Foxe's Book of Martyrs and see how many suffered under persecutions throughout the centuries, often by people who claimed to be Christians. They did not just walk into the coliseum nor bring their own stake to the fire, but neither was there any kind of organized military action for they knew who their enemy was and that the enemy is not wounded or defeated by arms made by men.

Even today, many of our brethren worldwide face all manner of persecution and myriads have earned the martyr's crown. Christian soldiers fight on another plane in higher spheres of reality. Indeed, our enemy would love to get us off mission and distracted encouraging carnal warfare as a means of camouflage to his tactics and as an evasive maneuver. We are not to be ignorant of his devices but rather destroying his strongholds.

2 Cor 10:3-5

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; KJV

There are no persons or groups of flesh that are the true enemy of Christians. Many people are pawns of the devil deluded, deceived and directed by demons. The people are not the real enemy. They are victims and prisoners to be loved and set free by the love of Christ. The enemy is devil and his minions. The war is a spiritual one.

Thus we have to fight in the spiritual realm with the weapons given to us. Paul shows us our armor in Ephesians 6. That is how we defend ourselves and take up the fight, but against spiritual enemies, not carnal ones. We sometimes forget how we were driven to do things that we look back on now with regret and wonder what were we thinking at the time. In many ways, we were not thinking, but rather being influenced by the thoughts of demons appealing to the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

So also are all those who do not know the Lord are influenced directly by demonic forces or through the influence of some man or woman that is influenced or controlled directly by them. This is why we must pray for them and witness to them through the power of the Spirit not through wisdom of men. Too often we rely upon our skills in logic or debate and try to win them through vain philosophy and then wonder why we fail.